Q4 Asia Pacific Office Overview 2016

Growth in Asia remained largely stable during the year despite some headwinds such as the demonetization in India, US Federal Reserve's interest rate hike and disintegration of Trans-Pacific Partnership in the fourth quarter. China and the Philippine economy ended the year on a strong note while Vietnam suffered its first economic slowdown in four years.

Overall demand for the year was in line with our absorption forecasts of nearly 85 million square feet, with Bengaluru registering the highest, followed by Sydney, Tokyo, Manila, and Hyderabad. Other core markets such as Hong Kong and Seoul showed below-trend absorption while a flight-to-quality environment persisted in Singapore.

Large-scale new supply in Beijing and Shanghai has started pushing up vacancies and impacting rents during the year. Meanwhile, rentals in Sydney and Melbourne are steadily rising on the back of new infrastructure development, healthy demand and negative net supply. Hong Kong remained the most expensive market followed by Tokyo and Sydney.